LTD V-50
Reviewed by:
king666nothing, on november 15, 2012 2 of 5 people found this review helpful

Price paid: $ 249

Purchased from: Guitar Center

Features: - Not sure about the year it was made, but I'm guessing it's 2010. It was made in China (yeah, sounds bad, I know).
- 24 XJ (Extra Jumbo) Frets. 25.5" scale.
- Thin maple neck (U contour). Rosewood fingerboard. I was always skeptical when people are talking about "fast neck". In my opinion if your fingers are not fast, there is no neck in the world that would make you play faster. And I am usually a clumsy player, especially on guitars that I'm holding in my hands for the first time ever. But this guitar surprised me quite a bit. It was really easy to play, no stress on muscles and joints in the wrist and palm - overall comfortable neck.
- Basswood Body. Really comfortable (despite the popular belief that V-shaped guitars are impossible to play sitting down - but then again I've played V-shaped guitar for years and absolutely love 'em).
- Mine is a black color.
- "TOM Bridge" - whatever the hell that is. Basically a "String-thru body" bridge (which gives awesome sustain).
- Passive electronics (2 ESP LH-150 pickups). The pickups are another thing that surprised me on this guitar - they sound pretty damn good for stock pickups (even on a crappy practice Marshall amp). But having 2 of the same pickups in both positions seems a bit pointless and redundant to me.
- 3-way toggle switch, 1 volume, 1 tone.
- ESP Tuners (look like Grover mini tuners, but don't know if they match the quality of Grover yet). // 9

Sound: I play metal music (mostly thrash, death, etc. - Megadeth, Pantera, Slayer, Testament, Lamb of God). This guitar suits this style pretty good. I don't care much for playing lead (I'm more of a rhythm section kinda guy - but that's strictly as a result of lack of skills needed to play lead). This guitar handles rhythm playing well (the clarity of notes in the chords in distorted mode is pretty awesome).
- As far as my equipment goes - I use a small Marshall practice amp (proverbial "I'm in the middle of amps" situation LOL). MXR Dime Distortion Pedal. DigiTech RP-90 Multi Effects Processor.
- Guitar sounds very bright and all the notes are clear. But at the same time it is got some sort of punchiness to its tone and it makes a "roaring" sound (which sounds awesome). It has lots of sustain, which is not very usual for V-shaped guitars. It picks up harmonics right away. And there is absolutely no noise (no pickup hissing, that is so common to ears). // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: - The factory set-up was pretty much flawless (hard to believe, isn't it? - considering it was made in China). The action was just right.
- Pickups height doesn't really mater to me, so I didn't pay attention to that aspect. But I guess it's fine.
- The only flaw I could notice was the oxidized screw on the bridge, but that's nothing - it doesn't affect playability at all and can be fixed in seconds.
- No finish or hardware or wiring flaws. // 9

Reliability & Durability: - I don't gig, so I have nothing to say about it's durability and reliability. I guess if I had to play a show I would definitely use it - it's not broken, so why not.
- As far as not having some other guitar for a backup - that's just retarded. That's a textbook example of what not to do when preparing for a gig. // 10

Overall Impression: - So overall this guitar is perfect for my style of playing and my preferences in guitars.
- I've been playing for about 7 years now (damn, I suck for someone who's been playing for that long )))).
- There are not much reviews or YouTube demos on this guitar, so I wasn't really sure about what I was about to buy. But once I tried it in the store all doubts were shattered. This guitar is totally worth its price (not going for those cliche "it's worth much more than it costs" or "that's practically a steal"). Solid instrument for it's price. You're getting exactly what you're paying for.
- "Anything you wish it had?" I guess it would be interesting to hear this guitar with 81/85 EMG's in it (yeah, it's becoming a trend, isn't it). So maybe later I'll change the pickups..... Or maybe not.
- So, it's a great guitar. I recommend it to all the fans of metal music who are on a tight budget.
P.S. I know my review is one of those "fanboyinsh" ones that have no cons stated about the instrument. But I really have nothing bad to say about it yet (considering the fact that I bought it just 8 hours ago). So I guess it's too early for me to write a review on this guitar, but whatever - there were no others, so at least I wrote something about it. // 10

LTD V-50
Reviewed by:
unregistered, on november 15, 2012 2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Price paid: £ 250

Purchased from: Steven James Guitars

Features: My model was made in 2010 (I think, there's no date on the guitar) The V-50 has 24 XJ frets which honestly, are slightly hard play on while doing lead on the higher frets on the higher string but that may just be my finger strength or preference, for rhythm playing I think they're amazing. Rosewood fretboard and basswood body make the sound good but not the best, however my guitar is the best sounding mid range V guitar i've heard with excellent sustain. It has a bolt on neck with a gloss black finish which suits this guitar perfectly. The body is quite thick which I like, the guitar is also quite heavy, (Just a bit less than a Les Paul I think.)which makes it feel great when playing standing or sitting. Tune-O-Matic bridge makes it extremely easy to lower the action (which is needed, mine came with quite a raised action.) Passive ESP LH-150 pickups which are quite high output, great for metal and rock playing. A tone and volume knob and a 3 way pickup selector. Some people find it annoying to sit with for obvious reasons but I got used to it straight away. There is literally NO gigbag that will fit this without stretching and eventually breaking sadly, but a Gator Extreme Case will fit (I think)
Overall this is a great guitar for the price and for metal (which the guitars been made for) is amazing. (Ratings are based on price) // 9

Sound: I play anything from Death Metal, metal, metalcore, rock, punk, blues and pop (like The Beatles) such as Cannibal Corpse, Metallica, Bullet For My Valentine, AC/DC, My Chemical Romance, Chuck Berry, and The Beatles. Doing music at college I have to change tunings from Drop B (rarely) and everything in-between to Standard very often. I have 11 gauge D'Addarios which handle the changes excellently (drop B being a bit loose)But this guitar stays in tune amazing. This guitar sounds perfect for metal, I run through a Laney LX120 and a Peavey Rage 158 15 watt, the pickups sound hot, and with some feedback if sat too close to the amp with high gain. The clean sounds aren't great but V's are never too great for clean sounds, especially a low/mid range V. But for anything from Job For A Cowboy to The Beatles it will hold it's own. However looking back if I had a wide style of playing i'd have got another guitar. But for metal It's amazing for the price. It's not made for anything else... // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: The action was quite high which was quite annoying to play, but once lowered this guitar plays brilliantly. The guitar came in perfect condition however after time the jack socket came loose but that was an easy fix. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I've gigged with this guitar twice without backup, and hasn't let me down yet, everything seems very solid, strap buttons are fitted well. I play this everyday for about 5 hours and have done for about 4 months. However due to me not having a case for a few weeks it did take a few knocks and chips off the spikes when taking it to and from college everyday but nothing major. // 8

Overall Impression: I've been playing for about 3-4 years now and have a Fender Strat (with humbucker) and I love this guitar. There's not a day goes by I don't play this. It was either this or an ESP MH-50 (I'm a student I'm on a budget.) I'm glad I choose this due to the fact I often Switch tunings and It's a lot easier without a Floyd Rose. I love the shape, the sound and the playability, however if I was a lead player I might disagree. I am now getting an Epiphone Les Paul Custom for more versatility and a better Clean tone. // 9

LTD V-50
Reviewed by:
shredfg, on november 15, 2012 0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Price paid: $ 250

Features: I don't know anything about when it was made. But It was made in Indonesia. It has a basswood body which is often used by beginner guitars. Comes with maple neck and 24 extra-jumbo frets rosewood fretboard. The bridge this guitar has is a Tune-o-matic-style string-thru bridge. The strings don't stop on body like Les Paul's stop tail tune-o-matic bridges. Strings go inside of the wood. So this makes a good effect for sustain. The guitar has two humbucking pickups. ESP LH-150 stock pickups used in bridge and neck. A volume, a tone and 3 way selector were given to control pickups. The tuners are made by ESP and non-locking tuners. I've a black finish guitar with chrome hardware. I'm giving a 9 because of only one volume knob and bolt-on neck. By the way I never hoped to see two volume knobs and set-thru neck for $250. // 9

Sound: It suits my music style well. ESPs are created to make dirty sounding music. This guitar comes with passive ESP stock pickups. But I can say easily this guitar is well for thrash, death metal. If you like clean sounds of course this doesn't have sounds like single coil pickups. But If you want to get sounds at arpeggios and clean parts of bands like Metallica this can handle it well. I'm using it on a Roland Cube 20XL and I like the sound I get from this guitar. I can get pure thrash sounds, nice palm mutes from this guitar. I sometimes switch to clean, acoustic and overdrive channel on my amp and strum around chords and add improvised solos it. I can have a little bit bluesy sound on it but can't get it's smoothness because of humbuckers. The stock ESP pickups handle my style well but sometimes it can be powerless if you play something that's too complicated. (I mean about technique). // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: I bought this guitar at a local shop. The action was quite low. But after a few while, when I tried to drop my tuning to D, I realized that it was forcing the bridge. So I re-tuned it to standard tuning. But that's not a big deal. Adjusting bridge and changing strings are provided with my dealer for free. There is no noise when switching between pickups. But when I play a chord and change volume knob while the strings are still vibrating, I get a buzzy sound. The prevent this you need to hold the strings with your palm. But this problem went itself. The main problem with this guitar is about the point where the neck and body being joined. The neck is thin but after 20th fret it's hard to reach upper frets because of bolt-on. It's getting thicker 3 times almost neck's normal size. Playing a v shaped guitar is enjoyable and ergonomic for accessing frets while standing. Generally people say it's impossible to play a "V" while standing. But after 3 days you will have no problem and no pain at your knee. The tuners are stable and good. It stays in tune even you play hard. I tuned my guitar and went out of city for 11 days. When I came back check it if it was in tune. It stays in tune well. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I think with a pickup modification this guitar is durable at live shows. Because it's shape is designed to play live and impress audience. If you're a professional, you probably will look Jackson KV2 or something in that range. But if you play in a local band and gig at small shows this guitar with a pickup modification according to your style would suit you. This guitar's finish is quite good. I surprised, because it's paint really looks expensive and cool. // 9

Overall Impression: After all these review this guitar suits well the style of music I play. (Thrash, Death, Black Metal). If it were stolen or lost, it depends on money I have in my pocket about buying this guitar again. If I had something $250 I would buy this. I compared this guitar with B.C. Rich and Jackson JS32 King V. B.C. Rich seemed too cheap and China. I'm a Jackson fan but Jackson's cheap, Indian models are not good. JS32 has a wood called Cedro. So I picked up this guitar. // 9

LTD V-50
Reviewed by:
unregistered, on november 15, 2012 0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Price paid: $ 250

Purchased from: Guitar Center

Features: Purchased from a guitar center in 2011. Made in China. Has 24 X-Jumbo frets on an ebony fretboard. Neck is an Ultra thin countour (really fast) on a 24.5" scale 4 screw mounted onto a basswood body. Glossed neck for extra fast playability. Two passive humbucking pickups, a good medium output. Tune-o-matic brige. Tuning low (C, B, and lower) made the frets close to the nut not defined because of how large the frets were. Wasn't brought in for a set-up so I'm sure that problem could be fixed. Volume, tone, and 3-way selector for controls. Non-locking tuners. // 8

Sound: I played through a Peavey Vypyr 15W and it eventually got a good and very metal sound. It was quite noisy when I first started but I switched to gold cables and the fuzz went away. Even with not so great pickups, it still can roar through a distortion pedal (DOD Death Metal Distortion). Pretty good sound overall. Can have clear highs, chrunchy lows, you name it. Stock, this guitar can handle most anything. // 7

Action, Fit & Finish: Everything about this guitar was set up right... For standard tuning. For me the action needs adjusting because of the fret size interferring with my playing in low tunings. In standard though it performs quite well. Pickups were adjusted well and I have't found any flaws in the paint that I didn't accidently cause my self. // 9

Reliability & Durability: This guitar is pretty solid. There was a couple issues I experienced with it, however. Like I had said, when I would downtune, because of fret size notes wouldn't be played right. I don't press down too hard when I play but I'm not light on them. If the frets were smaller this issue wouldn't occur. Another problem I had was with the input jack. Something is wrong with it and it can barely hold a cable so I have to wrap my strap around the leg of the guitar and the cable to help hold it in there, even when just nonchalantly sitting and playing. // 5

Overall Impression: Overall, this guitar isn't too bad, and is excellent for a beginner. I've played two years, this was the first "real" guitar I got. I play all kinds of metal; from the "oh my God how is this music" genres to the softer sides of metal, and a little bit of classics and jazzy bits. Good match for me at least but I need to show it some love. If it was stolen/lost I would replace moreso for sentimental reasons. I want to get this guitar into shape so when I have the cash I definitely want to work on it some more. It's a nice little V. Love the look of it, hate that stupid jack and the too big frets. Smaller frets on this and it would definitely be highly esteemed by me. // 8

good review, apart from having nearly all 10's. is that comparing it to the price? or just generally. usually i would expect somthing like this to get 6's, and hi-end PRS's to get 10's. but this is just me nit-picking xD

It's probably being scored so high due to a low price, most low end LTD's I've ever played were pretty decent and I actually now own an LTD H-100, yet another low end LTD, and overall it's not bad whatsover. I mean, it's not a perfect 10 by any means. But in most categories I'd probably rate it around the 6-7 mark.

I like the LTD line. I have the M-100FM, which is one of the lower-end Indonesian models, but certainly doesn't look or feel cheap at all. I replaced the bridge pickup with a SD Invader and it made a big difference. If you know how to set up a guitar properly, these "low-end" ones can be really great.
I don't know if I'd give them a 10 because the stock electronics aren't typically that great, and the fretwork could always be better. But I'd be reluctant to give a 6 because, to me, that signifies a bad product. I'd probably also wait a little longer and get some friends to try it out prior to reviewing just to be a little more objective.

to me, anything above LTD's 250 range (MH, F, V etc) is going to be a good product. such as the MH-250, just put an 81 in the bridge and you have a great guitar! worth twice its price.

jerm138 wrote:
I don't know if I'd give them a 10 because the stock electronics aren't typically that great, and the fretwork could always be better. But I'd be reluctant to give a 6 because, to me, that signifies a bad product. .

I think people should say in the review whether they are rating overall compared to all guitars, or 'for the price'. For the price LTD's are amazing. I would give my MH-50 9's and 10's as a 'for the price' review, because frankly (and much to my surprise, believe me) I haven't played anything inside the $700 range that feels near as good as my $300 mh-50.
But yeah, LTDs are great!

This review is terrible...if you dont even know what a TOM bridge is then you should NOT be doing reviews for others....and the 9/10/9/10/10 rating is absolutely rubbish, yet another FAILED review. Doesnt UG proof read these first? Bought the guitar 8 hours before doing the review....common!!!!

Could we get some reviews of some top-end guitars??? Don't need another review of these entry-level axes. Perhaps this is a society for newbies, but I thought otherwise...

(tony montana speaking) Why dont you stick your head up your ass to see if it fits?
come on, are you serious? prehaps you should write one, and in here we love guitars (some of them are crap but... who cares you can always play jimmy and burn them.)

Fair review. Disapointed you don't know what a TOM is :o! CTgraphixguy, its good people review low end guitars as well because these reviews help people decide what kinda guitar to get . And quite alot of Esp Ltd's low end wise are alright

Might I also add that it's silly to knock someone for giving their rating of their guitar? If you like a Telecaster, you aren't going to give a Flying V a bunch of 10s. And vice versa. So, if you're here trashing peoples reviews, maybe you need to realize that a review is someones OPINION. At least you aren't having to read them in a guitar magazine, where reviewers are paid to say nice things about instruments. If you wanna complain about how someone feels about their guitar, use that energy to write a review about YOUR guitar, so everyone can tell you what a POS it is. The best guitar I ever owned was a Univox Hi-Flier that I paid 175 bucks for. It made an Ibanez feel like a classical guitar, and sounded like a banshee. Play nice or go home.

@RyanMetalMatthe I have a hi-end guitar already. I got this one just so I can change tuning quickly without worrying about the Floyd Rose set up. It's not my main guitar.
@Tyler Durden Lighten up, douche. At least I wrote something about this guitar. Until someone else writes a better review for this guitar you can suck my huge sweaty balls. How 'bout that?

Yeah the review is way too shiny. I prefer something a little more realistic but seeing as our reviewer here is obviously one angry guy I guess I won't say anything since it's extremely difficult to argue with someone who says things like, "you can suck my huge sweaty balls"

guitarfreak222 wrote:
RyanMetalMatthe wrote:
Why would get this entry-level piece of garbage when you could have the V-300?
Uhh.. for people who want to start guitar and they are into metal? No one starts playing with a high end guitar..

yeah.
if you start with a 54' strat, then your just a dickbag.
you gotta build up to it.

As opposed to slamming or loving the review, I will add on to it. The review sounded good to me, I also have an ltd (F-50). I loved mine to begin with, hot pups for a cheap guitar and the neck wasn't bad. But I've now had it for a couple of years and the wiring is going out and the neck is twisting in a weird way. I can't fix the neck problem with truss rod adjustments because it isn't bending in a natural way...it's twisting, and I've done no abuse to the guitar to cause this (humidity, what not). And my volume control gives out all the time. Right now I'm fixing up an old Ibanez I bought for my first guitar, an RG 270. The Ibanez is built a lot better but I'm putting the ltd pickups in it! They sound great for passive stock pick ups. Ltd's are a great value but don't expect them to last forever, the quality just isn't there. Peace.

Guitar Sushi wrote:
Yeah the review is way too shiny. I prefer something a little more realistic but seeing as our reviewer here is obviously one angry guy I guess I won't say anything since it's extremely difficult to argue with someone who says things like, "you can suck my huge sweaty balls"

(My review was the first one, I was just unregistered at the time ahha)
I at first thought playing lead was a bit "hard"? on this guitar, like compared to my friends Ibanez it was nothing compared to the ibanez for lead. I am learning to shred on this although I'm not sure why but it seems ahrder to shred on than some other guitars. But I can, just took some time to get used to. And when you're used to it. You'll LOVE this axe.

There is literally NO gigbag that will fit this without stretching and eventually breaking sadly, but a Gator Extreme Case will fit (I think)

Im afraid this guitar doesnt fit with any gig bag. I spent so many time searching for someone, and finally I bought a Gator Extreme Case and doesn`t fit, there`s 0.4 inch over the bag...
But I saw on e-bay a ESP leather case that ensures fits perfectly. Whats the point? Its 199.99$, so unless you can afford it foget the idea of a gig bag.

Hey, i'm not entirely worried about the gigbag deal, maybe the one above might work. My real question is can you tap easily on this guitar? i've heard ltd pickups are pretty hot, i have a friend who ones one that kicks ass-please respond quickly, i need to know how the tapping is.

i think it makes a lot of sense that there would be more low end reviews. if you're buying a low end guitar you're obviously on a tight budget, so you're gonna want to scope out the market to see what you can find for your money.

I'm looking at this, or perhaps the Jackson equivalent or even KVXT (though people don't sound keen on the passive EMGs). The intention is to get something that can take a good thrashing and easy to restring while of course looking good (the pointy V appeals). Impossible to find a store that stocks one let alone both ESP and Jackson within a sensible distance so may have to go off the shelf (not a fan). Advice?

Ok, bought the Snow White one. Excellent overall quality, pickups reasonably hot, bridge is a bit cheap, will probably replace. managed to get a 2nd hand case imported from Germany (hurrah for eBay). It was impossible to get the official nod possibly only suitable case in the UK. Anyone after the official case, you need the CVFF case. Guitar looks fantastic.

Well, I just got ESP LTD V-50 electric guitar 3 days ago. I'm from India and i bought it from bajaao.com. I have the Snow White Color. I really love this guitar and i only play METAL. It has 2 LH-150 pickups, awesome sound and i play this guitar through Line 6 Spider IV 15 watt Amp.. This guitar is of the LTD series and so it is cheap and nice starting guitar for the guys who love to play METAL.